Iraq War victims’ families, one from C.O., sue big drug, medical-supply cos.

A group of American veterans and civilians, and their families — one from Central Oregon — filed a lawsuit against five major pharmaceutical and medical-supply corporations in federal court Tuesday, accusing them of knowingly or recklessly supporting an Iraqi terrorist group that attacked, killed, and wounded thousands of Americans in Iraq.

Financing for the group has come through a longstanding and continuing bribery scheme that many of the defendants have pursued for years and was designed to keep their profits high, the lawsuit alleges.

The defendants named in the lawsuit are the parent companies and/or subsidiaries of AstraZeneca plc (AZN), General Electric Company (GE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer Inc. (PFE), and Roche Holding AG (RHHBY).

The defendants are being sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act by more than 100 Americans who were attacked or who had a family member attacked by the terrorist group Jaysh al-Mahdi (also known as JAM or the Mahdi Army).

The plaintiffs include the brother and sister of Deborah Klecker, a Sunriver resident and retired police officer who went to Iraq to train Iraqi police. She was killed on June 27, 2005 by an improvised explosive device planned and detonated by Jaysh al-Mahdi in eastern Baghdad, the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs include Klecker’s brother and sister, Gregory Klecker of Oregon and Caren Klecker of Washington.

As a result of the deadly attack and Deborah Klecker’s death, “each member of the Klecker family has experienced severe mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, and the loss of Deborah Klecker’s society, companionship and counsel,” the lawsuit alleges.

In 2012, seven years after her death, Klecker was posthumously awarded the civilian Defense of Freedom medal by Sen. Ron Wyden. It was given to her brother at a ceremony at the Bend Heroes Memorial.

Klecker, who worked in law enforcement across Oregon, was the first civilian police officer honored with the medal, after the family worked with police association and Wyden to change the rules on who was eligible for the award.

Jaysh al-Mahdi is led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a notorious Iraqi cleric known for his fiery anti-American sermons and brutal attacks on Americans serving in Iraq after the fall of Saddam. As alleged in the complaint alleges Jaysh al-Mahdi has carried out its campaign of terror in Iraq using money and material provided directly by the defendants.

The suit follows an extensive investigation by the Washington, D.C.-based law firms of Sparacino & Andreson PLLC and Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC.

“While Americans worked to rebuild Iraq, many were attacked by a terrorist group that we allege has been funded in part by the defendants’ corrupt sales practices,” said Josh Branson, a partner at Kellogg Hansen. “This lawsuit alleges that the defendants have aided and abetted terrorism in Iraq by paying bribes to the terrorists who ran the Iraqi Ministry of Health. We allege that those corrupt payments, including cash and free goods, provided an important source of financing for the terrorists.”

Jaysh al-Mahdi is effectively the Iraqi franchise of Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization, and serves as Iran’s terrorist proxy in Iraq. The complaint alleges that Jaysh al-Mahdi’s terrorist attacks against Americans in Iraq have been planned, authorized, and sometimes conducted by Hezbollah.

“As alleged, many of the defendants have a documented history of paying bribes that supported terrorism under Saddam,” said Ryan Sparacino, a partner at Sparacino & Andreson. “We believe that the evidence will show that when Jaysh al-Mahdi seized the Iraqi Health Ministry, the defendants continued paying the same bribes that many of them provided under Saddam – except in far greater amounts. The complaint alleges that these corruption schemes are extensive and ongoing. The lives of the families of those killed and injured have been forever changed, and the results have been devastating.”

Kellogg Hansen and Sparacino & Andreson said they conducted an extensive investigation before filing the complaint. The firms spent thousands of hours working on the matter and analyzing hundreds of transactions between the defendants and the Iraqi Health Ministry. For many of the survivors of these attacks and the families of those killed, much of what the investigation uncovered came as a shock.

“My hope is that we can get justice for my brother’s death and for so many others who didn’t have to die in Iraq,” said Ami Neiberger-Miller, the surviving sister of U.S. Army Specialist Christopher Neiberger, who was killed in action in Baghdad, Iraq on August 6, 2007, three days after his 22 nd birthday.

The complaint is available at http://www.terrorismcase.com.